Plutarch’s Lives

Alcibiades

Translated by John Dryden
and
Revised by Arthur Hugh Clough

Alcibiades, as it is supposed, was
anciently descended from Eurysaces, the son of Ajax, by his father’s
side; and by his mother’s side from Alcmæon. Dinomache, his mother, was
the daughter of Megacles. His father Clinias, having fitted out a
galley at his own expense, gained great honor in the sea-fight at
Artemisium, and was afterwards slain in the battle of Coronea, fighting
against the Bœotians. Pericles and Ariphron, the sons of Xanthippus,
nearly related to him, became the guardians of Alcibiades. It has been
said not untruly that the friendship which Socrates felt for him has
much contributed to his fame; and certain it is, that, though we have
no account from any writer concerning the mother of Nicias or
Demosthenes, of Lamachus or Phormion, of Thrasybulus or Theramenes,
notwithstanding these were all illustrious men of the same period, yet
we know even the nurse of Alcibiades, that her country was Lacedæmon,
and her name Amycla; and that Zopyrus was his teacher and attendant;
the one being recorded by Antisthenes, and the other by Plato.

It is not, perhaps, material to say anything of the beauty of
Alcibiades, only that it bloomed with him in all the ages of his life,
in his infancy, in his youth, and in his manhood; and, in the peculiar
character becoming to each of these periods, gave him, in every one of
them, a grace and a charm. What Euripides says, that—

“Of all fair things the autumn, too, is fair,”

is by no means universally true. But it happened so with
Alcibiades, amongst few others, by reason of his happy constitution and
natural vigor of body. It is said that his lisping, when he spoke,
became him well, and gave a grace and persuasiveness to his rapid
speech. Aristophanes takes notice of it in the verses in which he jests
at Theorus; “How like a colax he is,” says Alcibiades, meaning a corax; on which it is remarked,—

“How very happily he lisped the truth.”

Archippus also alludes to it in a passage where he ridicules the son of Alcibiades:—

“That people may believe him like his father,
He walks like one dissolved in luxury,
Lets his robe trail behind him on the ground,
Carelessly leans his head, and in his talk
Affects to lisp.”

His conduct displayed many great inconsistencies and variations, not
unnaturally, in accordance with the many and wonderful vicissitudes of
his fortunes; but among the many strong passions of his real character,
the one most prevailing of all was his ambition and desire of
superiority, which appears in several anecdotes told of his sayings
whilst he was a child. Once being hard pressed in wrestling, and
fearing to be thrown, he got the hand of his antagonist to his mouth,
and bit it with all his force; and when the other loosed his hold
presently, and said, “You bite, Alcibiades, like a woman.” “No,”
replied he, “like a lion.” Another time as he played at dice in the
street, being then but a child, a loaded cart came that way, when it
was his turn to throw; at first he called to the driver to stop,
because he was to throw in the way over which the cart was to pass; but
the man giving him no attention and driving on, when the rest of the
boys divided and gave way, Alcibiades threw himself on his face before
the cart, and, stretching himself out, bade the carter pass on now if
he would; which so startled the man, that he put back his horses, while
all that saw it were terrified, and, crying out, ran to assist
Alcibiades. When he began to study, he obeyed all his other masters
fairly well, but refused to learn upon the flute, as a sordid thing,
and not becoming a free citizen; saying, that to play on the lute or
the harp does not in any way disfigure a man’s body or face, but one is
hardly to be known by the most intimate friends, when playing on the
flute. Besides, one who plays on the harp may speak or sing at the same
time; but the use of the flute stops the mouth, intercepts the voice,
and prevents all articulation. “Therefore,” said he, “let the Theban
youths pipe, who do not know how to speak, but we Athenians, as our
ancestors have told us, have Minerva for our patroness, and Apollo for
our protector, one of whom threw away the flute, and the other stripped
the Flute-player of his skin.” Thus, between raillery and good earnest,
Alcibiades kept not only himself but others from learning, as it
presently became the talk of the young boys, how Alcibiades despised
playing on the flute, and ridiculed those who studied it. In
consequence of which, it ceased to be reckoned amongst the liberal
accomplishments, and became generally neglected.

It is stated in the invective which Antiphon wrote against
Alcibiades, that once, when he was a boy, he ran away to the house of
Democrates, one of those who made a favorite of him, and that Ariphron
had determined to cause proclamation to be made for him, had not
Pericles diverted him from it, by saying, that if he were dead, the
proclaiming of him could only cause it to be discovered one day sooner,
and if he were safe, it would be a reproach to him as long as he lived.
Antiphon also says, that he killed one of his own servants with the
blow of a staff in Sibyrtius’s wrestling ground. But it is unreasonable
to give credit to all that is objected by an enemy, who makes open
profession of his design to defame him.

It was manifest that the many well-born persons who were
continually seeking his company, and making their court to him, were
attracted and captivated by his brilliant and extraordinary beauty
only. But the affection which Socrates entertained for him is a great
evidence of the natural noble qualities and good disposition of the
boy, which Socrates, indeed, detected both in and under his personal
beauty; and, fearing that his wealth and station, and the great number
both of strangers and Athenians who flattered and caressed him, might
at last corrupt him, resolved, if possible, to interpose, and preserve
so hopeful a plant from perishing in the flower, before its fruit came
to perfection. For never did fortune surround and enclose a man with so
many of those things which we vulgarly call goods, or so protect him
from every weapon of philosophy, and fence him from every access of
free and searching words, as she did Alcibiades; who, from the
beginning, was exposed to the flatteries of those who sought merely his
gratification, such as might well unnerve him, and indispose him to
listen to any real adviser or instructor. Yet such was the happiness of
his genius, that he discerned Socrates from the rest, and admitted him,
whilst he drove away the wealthy and the noble who made court to him.
And, in a little time, they grew intimate, and Alcibiades, listening
now to language entirely free from every thought of unmanly fondness
and silly displays of affection, finding himself with one who sought to
lay open to him the deficiencies of his mind, and repress his vain and
foolish arrogance—

“Dropped like the craven cock his conquered wing.”

He esteemed these endeavors of Socrates as most truly a means
which the gods made use of for the care and preservation of youth, and
began to think meanly of himself, and to admire him; to be pleased with
his kindness, and to stand in awe of his virtue; and, unawares to
himself, there became formed in his mind that reflex image and
reciprocation of Love, or Anteros, that Plato talks of. It was a matter
of general wonder, when people saw him joining Socrates in his meals
and his exercises, living with him in the same tent, whilst he was
reserved and rough to all others who made their addresses to him, and
acted, indeed, with great insolence to some of them. As in particular
to Anytus, the son of Anthemion, one who was very fond of him, and
invited him to an entertainment which he had prepared for some
strangers. Alcibiades refused the invitation; but, having drunk to
excess at his own house with some of his companions, went thither with
them to play some frolic; and, standing at the door of the room where
the guests were enjoying themselves, and seeing the tables covered with
gold and silver cups, he commanded his servants to take away the one
half of them, and carry them to his own house; and then, disdaining so
much as to enter into the room himself, as soon as he had done this,
went away. The company was indignant, and exclaimed at his rude and
insulting conduct; Anytus, however, said, on the contrary he had shown
great consideration and tenderness in taking only a part, when he might
have taken all.

He behaved in the same manner to all others who courted him,
except only one stranger, who, as the story is told, having but a small
estate, sold it all for about a hundred staters, which he presented to
Alcibiades, and besought him to accept. Alcibiades, smiling and well
pleased at the thing, invited him to supper, and, after a very kind
entertainment, gave him his gold again, requiring him, moreover, not to
fail to be present the next day, when the public revenue was offered to
farm, and to outbid all others. The man would have excused himself,
because the contract was so large, and would cost many talents; but
Alcibiades, who had at that time a private pique against the existing
farmers of the revenue, threatened to have him beaten if he refused.
The next morning, the stranger, coming to the marketplace, offered a
talent more than the existing rate; upon which the farmers, enraged and
consulting together, called upon him to name his sureties, concluding
that he could find none. The poor man, being startled at the proposal,
began to retire; but Alcibiades, standing at a distance, cried out to
the magistrates, “Set my name down, he is a friend of mine; I will be
security for him.” When the other bidders heard this, they perceived
that all their contrivance was defeated; for their way was, with the
profits of the second year to pay the rent for the year preceding; so
that, not seeing any other way to extricate themselves out of the
difficulty, they began to entreat the stranger, and offered him a sum
of money. Alcibiades would not suffer him to accept of less than a
talent; but when that was paid down, he commanded him to relinquish the
bargain, having by this device relieved his necessity.

Though Socrates had many and powerful rivals, yet the natural
good qualities of Alcibiades gave his affection the mastery. His words
overcame him so much, as to draw tears from his eyes, and to disturb
his very soul. Yet sometimes he would abandon himself to flatterers,
when they proposed to him varieties of pleasure, and would desert
Socrates; who, then, would pursue him, as if he had been a fugitive
slave. He despised everyone else, and had no reverence or awe for any
but him. Cleanthes the philosopher; speaking of one to whom he was
attached, says his only hold on him was by his ears, while his rivals
had all the others offered them; and there is no question that
Alcibiades was very easily caught by pleasures; and the expression used
by Thucydides about the excesses of his habitual course of living gives
occasion to believe so. But those who endeavored to corrupt Alcibiades,
took advantage chiefly of his vanity and ambition, and thrust him on
unseasonably to undertake great enterprises, persuading him, that as
soon as he began to concern himself in public affairs, he would not
only obscure the rest of the generals and statesmen, but outdo the
authority and the reputation which Pericles himself had gained in
Greece. But in the same manner as iron which is softened by the fire
grows hard with the cold, and all its parts are closed again; so, as
often as Socrates observed Alcibiades to be misled by luxury or pride,
he reduced and corrected him by his addresses, and made him humble and
modest, by showing him in how many things he was deficient, and how
very far from perfection in virtue.

When he was past his childhood, he went once to a
grammar-school, and asked the master for one of Homer’s books; and he
making answer that he had nothing of Homer’s, Alcibiades gave him a
blow with his fist, and went away. Another schoolmaster telling him
that he had Homer corrected by himself; “How,” said Alcibiades, “and do
you employ your time in teaching children to read? You, who are able to
amend Homer, may well undertake to instruct men.” Being once desirous
to speak with Pericles, he went to his house and was told there that he
was not at leisure, but busied in considering how to give up his
accounts to the Athenians; Alcibiades, as he went away, said, “It were
better for him to consider how he might avoid giving up his accounts at
all.”

Whilst he was very young, he was a soldier in the expedition
against Potidæa, where Socrates lodged in the same tent with him, and
stood next him in battle. Once there happened a sharp skirmish, in
which they both behaved with signal bravery; but Alcibiades receiving a
wound, Socrates threw himself before him to defend him, and beyond any
question saved him and his arms from the enemy, and so in all justice
might have challenged the prize of valor. But the generals appearing
eager to adjudge the honor to Alcibiades, because of his rank,
Socrates, who desired to increase his thirst after glory of a noble
kind, was the first to give evidence for him, and pressed them to crown
him, and to decree to him the complete suit of armor. Afterwards, in
the battle of Delium, when the Athenians were routed and Socrates with
a few others was retreating on foot, Alcibiades, who was on horseback,
observing it, would not pass on, but stayed to shelter him from the
danger, and brought him safe off, though the enemy pressed hard upon
them, and cut off many. But this happened some time after.

He gave a box on the ear to Hipponicus, the father of Callias,
whose birth and wealth made him a person of great influence and repute.
And this he did unprovoked by any passion or quarrel between them, but
only because, in a frolic, he had agreed with his companions to do it.
People were justly offended at this insolence, when it became known
through the city; but early the next morning, Alcibiades went to his
house and knocked at the door, and, being admitted to him, took off his
outer garment, and, presenting his naked body, desired him to scourge
and chastise him as he pleased. Upon this Hipponicus forgot all his
resentment, and not only pardoned him, but soon after gave him his
daughter Hipparete in marriage. Some say that it was not Hipponicus,
but his son Callias, who gave Hipparete to Alcibiades, together with a
portion of ten talents, and that after, when she had a child,
Alcibiades forced him to give ten talents more, upon pretense that such
was the agreement if she brought him any children. Afterwards, Callias,
for fear of coming to his death by his means, declared, in a full
assembly of the people, that if he should happen to die without
children, the state should inherit his house and all his goods.
Hipparete was a virtuous and dutiful wife, but, at last, growing
impatient of the outrages done to her by her husband’s continual
entertaining of courtesans, as well strangers as Athenians, she
departed from him and retired to her brother’s house. Alcibiades seemed
not at all concerned at this, and lived on still in the same luxury;
but the law requiring that she should deliver to the archon in person,
and not by proxy, the instrument by which she claimed a divorce, when,
in obedience to the law, she presented herself before him to perform
this, Alcibiades came in, caught her up, and carried her home through
the marketplace, no one daring to oppose him, nor to take her from him.
She continued with him till her death, which happened not long after,
when Alcibiades had gone to Ephesus. Nor is this violence to be thought
so very enormous or unmanly. For the law, in making her who desires to
be divorced appear in public, seems to design to give her husband an
opportunity of treating with her, and of endeavoring to retain her.

Alcibiades had a dog which cost him seventy minas, and was a
very large one, and very handsome. His tail, which was his principal
ornament, he caused to be cut off, and his acquaintance exclaiming at
him for it, and telling him that all Athens was sorry for the dog, and
cried out upon him for this action, he laughed, and said, “Just what I
wanted has happened, then. I wished the Athenians to talk about this,
that they might not say something worse of me.”

It is said that the first time he came into the assembly was
upon occasion of a largess of money which he made to the people. This
was not done by design, but as he passed along he heard a shout, and
inquiring the cause, and having learned that there was a donative
making to the people, he went in amongst them and gave money also. The
multitude thereupon applauding him, and shouting, he was so transported
at it, that he forgot a quail which he had under his robe, and the
bird, being frighted with the noise, flew off; upon which the people
made louder acclamations than before, and many of them started up to
pursue the bird; and one Antiochus, a pilot, caught it and restored it
to him, for which he was ever after a favorite with Alcibiades.

He had great advantages for entering public life; his noble
birth, his riches, the personal courage he had shown in divers battles,
and the multitude of his friends and dependents, threw open, so to say,
folding doors for his admittance. But he did not consent to let his
power with the people rest on any thing, rather than on his own gift of
eloquence. That he was a master in the art of speaking, the comic poets
bear him witness; and the most eloquent of public speakers, in his
oration against Midias, allows that Alcibiades, among other
perfections, was a most accomplished orator. If, however, we give
credit to Theophrastus, who of all philosophers was the most curious
inquirer, and the greatest lover of history, we are to understand that
Alcibiades had the highest capacity for inventing, for discerning what
was the right thing to be said for any purpose, and on any occasion;
but, aiming not only at saying what was required, but also at saying it
well, in respect, that is, of words and phrases, when these did not
readily occur, he would often pause in the middle of his discourse for
want of the apt word, and would be silent and stop till he could
recollect himself, and had considered what to say.

His expenses in horses kept for the public games, and in the
number of his chariots, were matter of great observation; never did
anyone but he, either private person or king, send seven chariots to
the Olympic games. And to have carried away at once the first, the
second, and the fourth prize, as Thucydides says, or the third, as
Euripides relates it, outdoes far away every distinction that ever was
known or thought of in that kind. Euripides celebrates his success in
this manner:—

“—But my song to you,
Son of Clinias, is due.
Victory is noble; how much more
To do as never Greek before;
To obtain in the great chariot race
The first, the second, and third place;
With easy step advanced to fame,
To bid the herald three times claim
The olive for one victor’s name.”

The emulation displayed by the deputations of various states, in
the presents which they made to him, rendered this success yet more
illustrious. The Ephesians erected a tent for him, adorned
magnificently; the city of Chios furnished him with provender for his
horses and with great numbers of beasts for sacrifice; and the Lesbians
sent him wine and other provisions for the many great entertainments
which he made. Yet in the midst of all this he escaped not without
censure, occasioned either by the ill-nature of his enemies or by his
own misconduct. For it is said, that one Diomedes, all Athenian, a
worthy man and a friend to Alcibiades, passionately desiring to obtain
the victory at the Olympic games, and having heard much of a chariot
which belonged to the state at Argos, where he knew that Alcibiades had
great power and many friends, prevailed with him to undertake to buy
the chariot. Alcibiades did indeed buy it, but then claimed it for his
own, leaving Diomedes to rage at him, and to call upon the gods and men
to bear witness to the injustice. It would seem there was a suit at law
commenced upon this occasion, and there is yet extant an oration
concerning the chariot, written by Isocrates in defense of the son of
Alcibiades. But the plaintiff in this action is named Tisias, and not
Diomedes.

As soon as he began to intermeddle in the government, which was
when he was very young, he quickly lessened the credit of all who
aspired to the confidence of the people, except Phæax, the son of
Erasistratus, and Nicias, the son of Niceratus, who alone could contest
it with him. Nicias was arrived at a mature age, and was esteemed their
first general. Phæax was but a rising statesman like Alcibiades; he was
descended from noble ancestors, but was his inferior, as in many other
things, so, principally, in eloquence. He possessed rather the art of
persuading in private conversation than of debate before the people,
and was, as Eupolis said of him—

“The best of talkers, and of speakers worst.”

There is extant an oration written by Phæax against Alcibiades,
in which, amongst other things, it is said, that Alcibiades made daily
use at his table of many gold and silver vessels, which belonged to the
commonwealth, as if they had been his own.

There was a certain Hyperbolus, of the township of Perithœdæ,
whom Thucydides also speaks of as a man of bad character, a general
butt for the mockery of all the comic writers of the time, but quite
unconcerned at the worst things they could say, and, being careless of
glory, also insensible of shame; a temper which some people call
boldness and courage, whereas it is indeed impudence and recklessness.
He was liked by nobody, yet the people made frequent use of him, when
they had a mind to disgrace or calumniate any persons in authority. At
this time, the people, by his persuasions, were ready to proceed to
pronounce the sentence of ten years’ banishment, called ostracism. This
they made use of to humiliate and drive out of the city such citizens
as outdid the rest in credit and power, indulging not so much perhaps
their apprehensions as their jealousies in this way. And when, at this
time, there was no doubt but that the ostracism would fall upon one of
those three, Alcibiades contrived to form a coalition of parties, and,
communicating his project to Nicias, turned the sentence upon
Hyperbolus himself. Others say, that it was not with Nicias, but Phæax,
that he consulted, and, by help of his party, procured the banishment
of Hyperbolus, when he suspected nothing less. For, before that time,
no mean or obscure person had ever fallen under that punishment, so
that Plato, the comic poet, speaking of Hyperbolus, might well say—

“The man deserved the fate; deny’t who can?
Yes, but the fate did not deserve the man;
Not for the like of him and his slave-brands
Did Athens put the sherd into our hands.”

But we have given elsewhere a fuller statement of what is known to us of the matter.

Alcibiades was not less disturbed at the distinctions which
Nicias gained amongst the enemies of Athens, than at the honors which
the Athenians themselves paid to him. For though Alcibiades was the
proper appointed person to receive all Lacedæmonians when they came to
Athens, and had taken particular care of those that were made prisoners
at Pylos, yet, after they had obtained the peace and restitution of the
captives, by the procurement chiefly of Nicias, they paid him very
special attentions. And it was commonly said in Greece, that the war
was begun by Pericles, and that Nicias made an end of it, and the peace
was generally called the peace of Nicias. Alcibiades was extremely
annoyed at this, and, being full of envy, set himself to break the
league. First, therefore, observing that the Argives, as well out of
fear as hatred to the Lacedæmonians, sought for protection against
them, he gave them a secret assurance of alliance with Athens. And
communicating, as well in person as by letters, with the chief advisers
of the people there, he encouraged them not to fear the Lacedæmonians,
nor make concessions to them, but to wait a little, and keep their eyes
on the Athenians, who, already, were all but sorry they had made peace,
and would soon give it up. And, afterwards, when the Lacedæmonians had
made a league with the Bœotians, and had not delivered up Panactum
entire, as they ought to have done by the treaty, but only after first
destroying it, which gave great offense to the people of Athens,
Alcibiades laid hold of that opportunity to exasperate them more
highly. He exclaimed fiercely against Nicias, and accused him of many
things, which seemed probable enough: as that, when he was general, he
made no attempt himself to capture their enemies that were shut up in
the isle of Sphacteria, but, when they were afterwards made prisoners
by others, he procured their release and sent them back to the
Lacedæmonians, only to get favor with them; that he would not make use
of his credit with them, to prevent their entering into this
confederacy with the Bœotians and Corinthians, and yet, on the other
side, that he sought to stand in the way of those Greeks who were
inclined to make an alliance and friendship with Athens, if the
Lacedæmonians did not like it.

It happened, at the very time when Nicias was by these arts
brought into disgrace with the people, that ambassadors arrived from
Lacedæmon, who, at their first coming, said what seemed very
satisfactory, declaring that they had full powers to arrange all
matters in dispute upon fair and equal terms. The council received
their propositions, and the people was to assemble on the morrow to
give them audience. Alcibiades grew very apprehensive of this, and
contrived to gain a secret conference with the ambassadors. When they
were met, he said: “What is it you intend, you men of Sparta? Can you
be ignorant that the council always act with moderation and respect
towards ambassadors, but that the people are full of ambition and great
designs? So that, if you let them know what full powers your commission
gives you, they will urge and press you to unreasonable conditions.
Quit therefore, this indiscreet simplicity, if you expect to obtain
equal terms from the Athenians, and would not have things extorted from
you contrary to your inclinations, and begin to treat with the people
upon some reasonable articles, not avowing yourselves
plenipotentiaries; and I will be ready to assist you, out of good-will
to the Lacedæmonians.” When he had said thus, he gave them his oath for
the performance of what he promised, and by this way drew them from
Nicias to rely entirely upon himself, and left them full of admiration
of the discernment and sagacity they had seen in him. The next day,
when the people were assembled and the ambassadors introduced,
Alcibiades, with great apparent courtesy, demanded of them, With what
powers they were come? They made answer that they were not come as
plenipotentiaries.

Instantly upon that, Alcibiades, with a loud voice, as though
he had received and not done the wrong, began to call them dishonest
prevaricators, and to urge that such men could not possibly come with a
purpose to say or do anything that was sincere. The council was
incensed, the people were in a rage, and Nicias, who knew nothing of
the deceit and the imposture, was in the greatest confusion, equally
surprised and ashamed at such a change in the men. So thus the
Lacedæmonian ambassadors were utterly rejected, and Alcibiades was
declared general, who presently united the Argives, the Eleans, and the
people of Mantinea, into a confederacy with the Athenians.

No man commended the method by which Alcibiades effected all
this, yet it was a great political feat thus to divide and shake almost
all Peloponnesus, and to combine so many men in arms against the
Lacedæmonians in one day before Mantinea; and, moreover, to remove the
war and the danger so far from the frontier of the Athenians, that even
success would profit the enemy but little, should they be conquerors,
whereas, if they were defeated, Sparta itself was hardly safe.

After this battle at Mantinea, the select thousand of the army
of the Argives attempted to overthrow the government of the people in
Argos, and make themselves masters of the city; and the Lacedæmonians
came to their aid and abolished the democracy. But the people took arms
again, and gained the advantage, and Alcibiades came in to their aid
and completed the victory, and persuaded them to build long walls, and
by that means to join their city to the sea, and so to bring it wholly
within the reach of the Athenian power. To this purpose, he procured
them builders and masons from Athens, and displayed the greatest zeal
for their service, and gained no less honor and power to himself than
to the commonwealth of Athens. He also persuaded the people of Patræ to
join their city to the sea, by building long walls; and when some one
told them, by way of warning, that the Athenians would swallow them up
at last Alcibiades made answer, “Possibly it may be so, but it will be
by little and little, and beginning at the feet, whereas the
Lacedæmonians will begin at the head and devour you all at once.” Nor
did he neglect either to advise the Athenians to look to their
interests by land, and often put the young men in mind of the oath
which they had made at Agraulos, to the effect that they would account
wheat and barley, and vines and olives, to be the limits of Attica; by
which they were taught to claim a title to all land that was cultivated
and productive.

But with all these words and deeds, and with all this sagacity
and eloquence, he intermingled exorbitant luxury and wantonness in his
eating and drinking and dissolute living; wore long purple robes like a
woman, which dragged after him as he went through the market-place;
caused the planks of his galley to be cut away, that so he might lie
the softer, his bed not being placed on the boards, but hanging upon
girths. His shield, again, which was richly gilded, had not the usual
ensigns of the Athenians, but a Cupid, holding a thunderbolt in his
hand, was painted upon it. The sight of all this made the people of
good repute in the city feel disgust and abhorrence, and apprehension
also, at his free-living, and his contempt of law, as things monstrous
in themselves, and indicating designs of usurpation. Aristophanes has
well expressed the people’s feeling towards him—

“They love, and hate, and cannot do without him.”

And still more strongly, under a figurative expression,—

“Best rear no lion in your state, ’tis true;
But treat him like a lion if you do.”

The truth is, his liberalities, his public shows, and other
munificence to the people, which were such as nothing could exceed, the
glory of his ancestors, the force of his eloquence, the grace of his
person, his strength of body, joined with his great courage and
knowledge in military affairs, prevailed upon the Athenians to endure
patiently his excesses, to indulge many things to him, and, according
to their habit, to give the softest names to his faults, attributing
them to youth and good nature. As, for example, he kept Agatharcus, the
painter, a prisoner till he had painted his whole house, but then
dismissed him with a reward. He publicly struck Taureas, who exhibited
certain shows in opposition to him and contended with him for the
prize. He selected for himself one of the captive Melian women, and had
a son by her, whom he took care to educate. This the Athenians styled
great humanity; and yet he was the principal cause of the slaughter of
all the inhabitants of the isle of Melos who were of age to bear arms,
having spoken in favor of that decree. When Aristophon, the painter,
had drawn Nemea sitting and holding Alcibiades in her arms, the
multitude seemed pleased with the piece, and thronged to see it, but
older people disliked and disrelished it, and looked on these things as
enormities, and movements towards tyranny. So that it was not said
amiss by Archestratus, that Greece could not support a second
Alcibiades. Once, when Alcibiades succeeded well in an oration which he
made, and the whole assembly attended upon him to do him honor, Timon
the misanthrope did not pass slightly by him, nor avoid him, as he did
others, but purposely met him, and, taking him by the hand, said, “Go
on boldly, my son, and increase in credit with the people, for thou
wilt one day bring them calamities enough.” Some that were present
laughed at the saying, and some reviled Timon; but there were others
upon whom it made a deep impression; so various was the judgment which
was made of him, and so irregular his own character.

The Athenians, even in the lifetime of Pericles, had already
cast a longing eye upon Sicily; but did not attempt any thing till
after his death. Then, under pretense of aiding their confederates,
they sent succors upon all occasions to those who were oppressed by the
Syracusans, preparing the way for sending over a greater force. But
Alcibiades was the person who inflamed this desire of theirs to the
height, and prevailed with them no longer to proceed secretly, and by
little and little, in their design, but to sail out with a great fleet,
and undertake at once to make themselves masters of the island. He
possessed the people with great hopes, and he himself entertained yet
greater; and the conquest of Sicily, which was the utmost bound of
their ambition, was but the mere outset of his expectation. Nicias
endeavored to divert the people from the expedition, by representing to
them that the taking of Syracuse would be a work of great difficulty;
but Alcibiades dreamed of nothing less than the conquest of Carthage
and Libya, and by the accession of these conceiving himself at once
made master of Italy and of Peloponnesus, seemed to look upon Sicily as
little more than a magazine for the war. The young men were soon
elevated with these hopes, and listened gladly to those of riper years,
who talked wonders of the countries they were going to; so that you
might see great numbers sitting in the wrestling grounds and public
places, drawing on the ground the figure of the island and the
situation of Libya and Carthage. Socrates the philosopher and Meton the
astrologer are said, however, never to have hoped for any good to the
commonwealth from this war; the one, it is to be supposed, presaging
what would ensue, by the intervention of his attendant Genius; and the
other, either upon rational consideration of the project, or by use of
the art of divination, conceived fears for its issue, and, feigning
madness, caught up a burning torch, and seemed as if he would have set
his own house on fire. Others report, that he did not take upon him to
act the madman, but secretly in the night set his house on fire, and
the next morning besought the people, that for his comfort, after such
a calamity, they would spare his son from the expedition. By which
artifice, he deceived his fellow-citizens, and obtained of them what he
desired.

Together with Alcibiades, Nicias, much against his will, was
appointed general: and he endeavored to avoid the command, not the less
on account of his colleague. But the Athenians thought the war would
proceed more prosperously, if they did not send Alcibiades free from
all restraint, but tempered his heat with the caution of Nicias. This
they chose the rather to do, because Lamachus, the third general,
though he was of mature years, yet in several battles had appeared no
less hot and rash than Alcibiades himself. When they began to
deliberate of the number of forces, and of the manner of making the
necessary provisions, Nicias made another attempt to oppose the design,
and to prevent the war; but Alcibiades contradicted him, and carried
his point with the people. And one Demostratus, an orator, proposing to
give the generals absolute power over the preparations and the whole
management of the war, it was presently decreed so. When all things
were fitted for the voyage, many unlucky omens appeared. At that very
time the feast of Adonis happened, in which the women were used to
expose, in all parts of the city, images resembling dead men carried
out to their burial, and to represent funeral solemnities by
lamentations and mournful songs. The mutilation, however, of the images
of Mercury, most of which, in one night, had their faces all
disfigured, terrified many persons who were wont to despise most things
of that nature. It was given out that it was done by the Corinthians,
for the sake of the Syracusans, who were their colony, in hopes that
the Athenians, by such prodigies, might be induced to delay or abandon
the war. But the report gained no credit with the people, nor yet the
opinion of those who would not believe that there was anything ominous
in the matter, but that it was only an extravagant action, committed,
in that sort of sport which runs into license, by wild young men coming
from a debauch. Alike enraged and terrified at the thing, looking upon
it to proceed from a conspiracy of persons who designed some commotions
in the state, the council, as well as the assembly of the people, which
was held frequently in a few days’ space, examined diligently
everything that might administer ground for suspicion. During this
examination, Androcles, one of the demagogues, produced certain slaves
and strangers before them, who accused Alcibiades and some of his
friends of defacing other images in the same manner, and of having
profanely acted the sacred mysteries at a drunken meeting, where one
Theodorus represented the herald, Polytion the torch-bearer, and
Alcibiades the chief priest, while the rest of the party appeared as
candidates for initiation, and received the title of Initiates. These
were the matters contained in the articles of information, which
Thessalus, the son of Cimon, exhibited against Alcibiades, for his
impious mockery of the goddesses, Ceres and Proserpine. The people were
highly exasperated and incensed against Alcibiades upon this
accusation, which, being aggravated by Androcles, the most malicious of
all his enemies, at first disturbed his friends exceedingly. But when
they perceived that all the sea-men designed for Sicily were for him,
and the soldiers also, and when the Argive and Mantinean auxiliaries, a
thousand men at arms, openly declared that they had undertaken this
distant maritime expedition for the sake of Alcibiades, and that, if he
was ill-used, they would all go home, they recovered their courage, and
became eager to make use of the present opportunity for justifying him.
At this his enemies were again discouraged, fearing lest the people
should be more gentle to him in their sentence, because of the occasion
they had for his service. Therefore, to obviate this, they contrived
that some other orators, who did not appear to be enemies to
Alcibiades, but really hated him no less than those who avowed it,
should stand up in the assembly and say, that it was a very absurd
thing that one who was created general of such an army with absolute
power, after his troops were assembled, and the confederates were come,
should lose the opportunity, whilst the people were choosing his judges
by lot, and appointing times for the hearing of the cause. And,
therefore, let him set sail at once; good fortune attend him; and when
the war should be at an end, he might then in person make his defense
according to the laws.

Alcibiades perceived the malice of this postponement, and,
appearing in the assembly represented that it was monstrous for him to
be sent with the command of so large an army, when he lay under such
accusations and calumnies; that he deserved to die, if he could not
clear himself of the crimes objected to him; but when he had so done,
and had proved his innocence, he should then cheerfully apply himself
to the war, as standing no longer in fear of false accusers. But he
could not prevail with the people, who commanded him to sail
immediately. So he departed, together with the other generals, having
with them near 140 galleys, 5,100 men at arms, and about 1,300 archers,
slingers, and light-armed men, and all the other provisions
corresponding.

Arriving on the coast of Italy, he landed at Rhegium, and there
stated his views of the manner in which they ought to conduct the war.
He was opposed by Nicias, but Lamachus being of his opinion, they
sailed for Sicily forthwith, and took Catana. This was all that was
done while he was there, for he was soon after recalled by the
Athenians to abide his trial. At first, as we before said, there were
only some slight suspicions advanced against Alcibiades, and
accusations by certain slaves and strangers. But afterwards, in his
absence, his enemies attacked him more violently, and confounded
together the breaking the images with the profanation of the mysteries,
as though both had been committed in pursuance of the same conspiracy
for changing the government. The people proceeded to imprison all that
were accused, without distinction, and without hearing them, and
repented now, considering the importance of the charge, that they had
not immediately brought Alcibiades to his trial, and given judgment
against him. Any of his friends or acquaintance who fell into the
people’s hands, whilst they were in this fury, did not fail to meet
with very severe usage. Thucydides has omitted to name the informers,
but others mention Dioclides and Teucer. Amongst whom is Phrynichus,
the comic poet, in whom we find the following:—

“O dearest Hermes! only do take care,
And mind you do not miss your footing there;
Should you get hurt, occasion may arise
For a new Dioclides to tell lies.”

To which he makes Mercury return this answer:—

“I will so, for I feel no inclination
To reward Teucer for more information.”

The truth is, his accusers alleged nothing that was certain or
solid against him. One of them, being asked how he knew the men who
defaced the images, replying, that he saw them by the light of the
moon, made a palpable misstatement, for it was just new moon when the
fact was committed. This made all men of understanding cry out upon the
thing; but the people were as eager as ever to receive further
accusations, nor was their first heat at all abated, but they instantly
seized and imprisoned every one that was accused. Amongst those who
were detained in prison for their trials was Andocides the orator,
whose descent the historian Hellanicus deduces from Ulysses. He was
always supposed to hate popular government, and to support oligarchy.
The chief ground of his being suspected of defacing the images was
because the great Mercury, which stood near his house, and was an
ancient monument of the tribe Ægeis, was almost the only statue of all
the remarkable ones, which remained entire. For this cause, it is now
called the Mercury of Andocides, all men giving it that name, though
the inscription is evidence to the contrary. It happened that
Andocides, amongst the rest who were prisoners upon the same account,
contracted particular acquaintance and intimacy with one Timæus, a
person inferior to him in repute, but of remarkable dexterity and
boldness. He persuaded Andocides to accuse himself and some few others
of this crime, urging to him that, upon his confession, he would be, by
the decree of the people, secure of his pardon, whereas the event of
judgment is uncertain to all men, but to great persons, such as he was,
most formidable. So that it was better for him, if he regarded himself,
to save his life by a falsity, than to suffer an infamous death, as
really guilty of the crime. And if he had regard to the public good, it
was commendable to sacrifice a few suspected men, by that means to
rescue many excellent persons from the fury of the people. Andocides
was prevailed upon, and accused himself and some others, and, by the
terms of the decree, obtained his pardon, while all the persons named
by him, except some few who had saved themselves by flight, suffered
death. To gain the greater credit to his information, he accused his
own servants amongst others. But notwithstanding this, the people’s
anger was not wholly appeased; and being now no longer diverted by the
mutilators, they were at leisure to pour out their whole rage upon
Alcibiades. And, in conclusion, they sent the galley named the
Salaminian, to recall him. But they expressly commanded those that were
sent, to use no violence, nor seize upon his person, but address
themselves to him in the mildest terms, requiring him to follow them to
Athens in order to abide his trial, and clear himself before the
people. For they feared mutiny and sedition in the army in an enemy’s
country, which indeed it would have been easy for Alcibiades to effect,
if he had wished it. For the soldiers were dispirited upon his
departure, expecting for the future tedious delays, and that the war
would be drawn out into a lazy length by Nicias, when Alcibiades, who
was the spur to action, was taken away. For though Lamachus was a
soldier, and a man of courage, poverty deprived him of authority and
respect in the army. Alcibiades, just upon his departure, prevented
Messena from falling into the hands of the Athenians. There were some
in that city who were upon the point of delivering it up, but he,
knowing the persons, gave information to some friends of the
Syracusans, and so defeated the whole contrivance. When he arrived at
Thurii, he went on shore, and, concealing himself there, escaped those
who searched after him. But to one who knew him, and asked him if he
durst not trust his own native country, he made answer, “In everything
else, yes; but in a matter that touches my life, I would not even my
own mother, lest she might by mistake throw in the black ball instead
of the white.” When, afterwards, he was told that the assembly had
pronounced judgment of death against him, all he said was, “I will make
them feel that I am alive.”

The information against him was conceived in this form:—

“Thessalus, the son of Cimon, of the township of Lacia, lays
information that Alcibiades, the son of Clinias, of the township of the
Scambonidæ, has committed a crime against the goddesses Ceres and
Proserpine, by representing in derision the holy mysteries, and showing
them to his companions in his own house. Where, being habited in such
robes as are used by the chief priest when he shows the holy things, he
named himself the chief priest, Polytion the torch-bearer, and
Theodorus, of the township of Phegæa, the herald; and saluted the rest
of his company as Initiates and Novices. All which was done contrary to
the laws and institutions of the Eumolpidæ, and the heralds and priests
of the temple at Eleusis.”

He was condemned as contumacious upon his not appearing, his
property confiscated, and it was decreed that all the priests and
priestesses should solemnly curse him. But one of them, Theano, the
daughter of Menon, of the township of Agraule, is said to have opposed
that part of the decree, saying that her holy office obliged her to
make prayers, but not execrations.

Alcibiades, lying under these heavy decrees and sentences, when
first he fled from Thurii, passed over into Peloponnesus and remained
some time at Argos. But being there in fear of his enemies and seeing
himself utterly hopeless of return to his native country, he sent to
Sparta, desiring safe conduct, and assuring them that he would make
them amends by his future services for all the mischief he had done
them while he was their enemy. The Spartans giving him the security he
desired, he went eagerly, was well received, and, at his very first
coming, succeeded in inducing them, without any further caution or
delay, to send aid to the Syracusans; and so roused and excited them,
that they forthwith dispatched Gylippus into Sicily, to crush the
forces which the Athenians had in Sicily. A second point was, to renew
the war upon the Athenians at home. But the third thing, and the most
important of all, was to make them fortify Decelea, which above
everything reduced and wasted the resources of the Athenians.

The renown which he earned by these public services was equaled
by the admiration he attracted to his private life; he captivated and
won over everybody by his conformity to Spartan habits. People who saw
him wearing his hair close cut, bathing in cold water, eating coarse
meal, and dining on black broth, doubted, or rather could not believe,
that he ever had a cook in his house, or had ever seen a perfumer, or
had worn a mantle of Milesian purple. For he had, as it was observed,
this peculiar talent and artifice for gaining men’s affections, that he
could at once comply with and really embrace and enter into their
habits and ways of life, and change faster than the chameleon. One
color, indeed, they say the chameleon cannot assume; it cannot make
itself appear white; but Alcibiades, whether with good men or with bad,
could adapt himself to his company, and equally wear the appearance of
virtue or vice. At Sparta, he was devoted to athletic exercises, was
frugal and reserved; in Ionia, luxurious, gay, and indolent; in Thrace,
always drinking; in Thessaly, ever on horseback; and when he lived with
Tisaphernes, the Persian satrap, he exceeded the Persians themselves in
magnificence and pomp. Not that his natural disposition changed so
easily, nor that his real character was so very variable, but, whenever
he was sensible that by pursuing his own inclinations he might give
offense to those with whom he had occasion to converse, he transformed
himself into any shape, and adopted any fashion, that he observed to be
most agreeable to them. So that to have seen him at Lacedæmon, a man,
judging by the outward appearance, would have said, “’Tis not
Achilles’s son, but he himself, the very man” that Lycurgus designed to
form; while his real feelings and acts would have rather provoked the
exclamation, “’Tis the same woman still.” For while king Agis was
absent, and abroad with the army, he corrupted his wife Timæa, and had
a child born by her. Nor did she even deny it, but when she was brought
to bed of a son, called him in public Leotychides, but, amongst her
confidants and attendants, would whisper that his name was Alcibiades.
To such a degree was she transported by her passion for him. He, on the
other side, would say, in his vain way, he had not done this thing out
of mere wantonness of insult, nor to gratify a passion, but that his
race might one day be kings over the Lacedæmonians.

There were many who told Agis that this was so, but time itself
gave the greatest confirmation to the story. For Agis, alarmed by an
earthquake, had quitted his wife, and, for ten months after, was never
with her; Leotychides, therefore, being born after those ten months, he
would not acknowledge him for his son; which was the reason that
afterwards he was not admitted to the succession.

After the defeat which the Athenians received in Sicily,
ambassadors were dispatched to Sparta at once from Chios and Lesbos and
Cyzicus, to signify their purpose of revolting from the Athenians. The
Bœotians interposed in favor of the Lesbians, and Pharnabazus of the
Cyzicenes, but the Lacedæmonians, at the persuasion of Alcibiades,
chose to assist Chios before all others. He himself, also, went
instantly to sea, procured the immediate revolt of almost all Ionia,
and, cooperating with the Lacedæmonian generals, did great mischief to
the Athenians. But Agis was his enemy, hating him for having dishonored
his wife, and also impatient of his glory, as almost every enterprise
and every success was ascribed to Alcibiades. Others, also, of the most
powerful and ambitious amongst the Spartans, were possessed with
jealousy of him, and, at last, prevailed with the magistrates in the
city to send orders into Ionia that he should be killed. Alcibiades,
however, had secret intelligence of this, and, in apprehension of the
result, while he communicated all affairs to the Lacedæmonians, yet
took care not to put himself into their power. At last he retired to
Tisaphernes, the king of Persia’s satrap, for his security, and
immediately became the first and most influential person about him. For
this barbarian, not being himself sincere, but a lover of guile and
wickedness, admired his address and wonderful subtlety. And, indeed,
the charm of daily intercourse with him was more than any character
could resist or any disposition escape. Even those who feared and
envied him could not but take delight, and have a sort of kindness for
him, when they saw him and were in his company. So that Tisaphernes,
otherwise a cruel character, and, above all other Persians, a hater of
the Greeks, was yet so won by the flatteries of Alcibiades, that he set
himself even to exceed him in responding to them. The most beautiful of
his parks, containing salubrious streams and meadows, where he had
built pavilions, and places of retirement royally and exquisitely
adorned, received by his direction the name of Alcibiades, and was
always so called and so spoken of.

Thus Alcibiades, quitting the interests of the Spartans, whom
he could no longer trust, because he stood in fear of Agis, endeavored
to do them ill offices, and render them odious to Tisaphernes, who, by
his means, was hindered from assisting them vigorously, and from
finally ruining the Athenians. For his advice was to furnish them but
sparingly with money, and so wear them out, and consume them
insensibly; when they had wasted their strength upon one another, they
would both become ready to submit to the king. Tisaphernes readily
pursued his counsel, and so openly expressed the liking and admiration
which he had for him, that Alcibiades was looked up to by the Greeks of
both parties, and the Athenians, now in their misfortunes, repented
them of their severe sentence against him. And he, on the other side,
began to be troubled for them, and to fear lest, if that commonwealth
were utterly destroyed, he should fall into the hands of the
Lacedæmonians, his enemies.

At that time the whole strength of the Athenians was in Samos.
Their fleet maintained itself here, and issued from these head-quarters
to reduce such as had revolted, and protect the rest of their
territories; in one way or other still contriving to be a match for
their enemies at sea. What they stood in fear of, was Tisaphernes and
the Phœnician fleet of one hundred and fifty galleys, which was said to
be already under sail; if those came, there remained then no hopes for
the commonwealth of Athens. Understanding this, Alcibiades sent
secretly to the chief men of the Athenians, who were then at Samos,
giving them hopes that he would make Tisaphernes their friend; he was
willing, he implied, to do some favor, not to the people, nor in
reliance upon them, but to the better citizens, if only, like brave
men, they would make the attempt to put down the insolence of the
people, and, by taking upon them the government, would endeavor to save
the city from ruin. All of them gave a ready ear to the proposal made
by Alcibiades, except only Phrynichus of the township of Dirades, one
of the generals, who suspected, as the truth was, that Alcibiades
concerned not himself whether the government were in the people or the
better citizens, but only sought by any means to make way for his
return into his native country, and to that end inveighed against the
people, thereby to gain the others, and to insinuate himself into their
good opinion. But when Phrynichus found his counsel to be rejected, and
that he was himself become a declared enemy of Alcibiades, he gave
secret intelligence to Astyochus, the enemy’s admiral, cautioning him
to beware of Alcibiades, and to seize him as a double dealer, unaware
that one traitor was making discoveries to another. For Astyochus, who
was eager to gain the favor of Tisaphernes, observing the credit
Alcibiades had with him, revealed to Alcibiades all that Phrynichus had
said against him. Alcibiades at once dispatched messengers to Samos, to
accuse Phrynichus of the treachery. Upon this, all the commanders were
enraged with Phrynichus, and set themselves against him, and he, seeing
no other way to extricate himself from the present danger, attempted to
remedy one evil by a greater. He sent to Astyochus to reproach him for
betraying him, and to make an offer to him at the same time, to deliver
into his hands both the army and the navy of the Athenians. This
occasioned no damage to the Athenians, because Astyochus repeated his
treachery, and revealed also this proposal to Alcibiades. But this
again was foreseen by Phrynichus, who, expecting a second accusation
from Alcibiades, to anticipate him, advertised the Athenians beforehand
that the enemy was ready to sail in order to surprise them, and
therefore advised them to fortify their camp, and to be in a readiness
to go aboard their ships. While the Athenians were intent upon doing
these things, they received other letters from Alcibiades, admonishing
them to beware of Phrynichus, as one who designed to betray their fleet
to the enemy, to which they then gave no credit at all, conceiving that
Alcibiades, who knew perfectly the counsels and preparations of the
enemy, was merely making use of that knowledge, in order to impose upon
them in this false accusation of Phrynichus. Yet, afterwards, when
Phrynichus was stabbed with a dagger in the market-place by Hermon, one
of the guard, the Athenians, entering into an examination of the cause,
solemnly condemned Phrynichus of treason, and decreed crowns to Hermon
and his associates. And now the friends of Alcibiades, carrying all
before them at Samos, dispatched Pisander to Athens, to attempt a
change of government, and to encourage the aristocratical citizens to
take upon themselves the government, and overthrow the democracy,
representing to them, that, upon these terms, Alcibiades would procure
them the friendship and alliance of Tisaphernes.

This was the color and pretense made use of by those who
desired to change the government of Athens to an oligarchy. But as soon
as they prevailed, and had got the administration of affairs into their
hands, under the name of the Five Thousand (whereas, indeed, they were
but four hundred), they slighted Alcibiades altogether, and prosecuted
the war with less vigor; partly because they durst not yet trust the
citizens, who secretly detested this change, and partly because they
thought the Lacedæmonians, who always befriended the government of the
few, would be inclined to give them favorable terms.

The people in the city were terrified into submission, many of
those who had dared openly to oppose the four hundred having been put
to death. But those who were at Samos, indignant when they heard this
news, were eager to set sail instantly for the Piræus; and, sending for
Alcibiades, they declared him general, requiring him to lead them on to
put down the tyrants. He, however, in that juncture, did not, as it
might have been thought a man would, on being suddenly exalted by the
favor of a multitude, think himself under an obligation to gratify and
submit to all the wishes of those who, from a fugitive and an exile,
had created him general of so great an army, and given him the command
of such a fleet. But, as became a great captain, he opposed himself to
the precipitate resolutions which their rage led them to, and, by
restraining them from the great error they were about to commit,
unequivocally saved the commonwealth. For if they then had sailed to
Athens, all Ionia and the islands and the Hellespont would have fallen
into the enemies’ hands without opposition, while the Athenians,
involved in civil war, would have been fighting with one another within
the circuit of their own walls. It was Alcibiades alone, or, at least,
principally, who prevented all this mischief; for he not only used
persuasion to the whole army, and showed them the danger, but applied
himself to them, one by one, entreating some, and constraining others.
He was much assisted, however, by Thrasybulus of Stiria, who, having
the loudest voice, as we are told of all the Athenians, went along with
him, and cried out to those who were ready to be gone. A second great
service which Alcibiades did for them was, his undertaking that the
Phœnician fleet, which the Lacedæmonians expected to be sent to them by
the king of Persia, should either come in aid of the Athenians, or
otherwise should not come at all. He sailed off with all expedition in
order to perform this, and the ships, which had already been seen as
near as Aspendus, were not brought any further by Tisaphernes, who thus
deceived the Lacedæmonians; and it was by both sides believed that they
had been diverted by the procurement of Alcibiades. The Lacedæmonians,
in particular, accused him, that he had advised the Barbarian to stand
still, and suffer the Greeks to waste and destroy one another, as it
was evident that the accession of so great a force to either party
would enable them to take away the entire dominion of the sea from the
other side.

Soon after this, the four hundred usurpers were driven out, the
friends of Alcibiades vigorously assisting those who were for the
popular government. And now the people in the city not only desired,
but commanded Alcibiades to return home from his exile. He, however,
desired not to owe his return to the mere grace and commiseration of
the people, and resolved to come back, not with empty hands, but with
glory, and after some service done. To this end, he sailed from Samos
with a few ships, and cruised on the sea of Cnidos, and about the isle
of Cos; but receiving intelligence there that Mindarus, the Spartan
admiral, had sailed with his whole army into the Hellespont, and that
the Athenians had followed him, he hurried back to succor the Athenian
commanders, and, by good fortune, arrived with eighteen galleys at a
critical time. For both the fleets having engaged near Abydos, the
fight between them had lasted till night, the one side having the
advantage on one quarter, and the other on another. Upon his first
appearance, both sides formed a false impression; the enemy was
encouraged, and the Athenians terrified. But Alcibiades suddenly raised
the Athenian ensign in the admiral ship, and fell upon those galleys of
the Peloponnesians which had the advantage and were in pursuit. He soon
put these to flight, and followed them so close that he forced them on
shore, and broke the ships in pieces, the sailors abandoning them and
swimming away, in spite of all the efforts of Pharnabazus, who had come
down to their assistance by land, and did what he could to protect them
from the shore. In fine, the Athenians, having taken thirty of the
enemy’s ships, and recovered all their own, erected a trophy. After the
gaining of so glorious a victory, his vanity made him eager to show
himself to Tisaphernes, and, having furnished himself with gifts and
presents, and an equipage suitable to his dignity, he set out to visit
him. But the thing did not succeed as he had imagined, for Tisaphernes
had been long suspected by the Lacedæmonians, and was afraid to fall
into disgrace with his king, upon that account, and therefore thought
that Alcibiades arrived very opportunely, and immediately caused him to
be seized, and sent away prisoner to Sardis; fancying, by this act of
injustice, to clear himself from all former imputations.

But about thirty days after, Alcibiades escaped from his
keepers, and, having got a horse, fled to Clazomenæ, where he procured
Tisaphernes’ additional disgrace by professing he was a party to his
escape. From there he sailed to the Athenian camp, and, being informed
there that Mindarus and Pharnabazus were together at Cyzicus, he made a
speech to the soldiers, telling them that sea-fighting, land-fighting,
and, by the gods, fighting against fortified cities too, must be all
one for them, as, unless they conquered everywhere, there was no money
for them. As soon as ever he got them on shipboard, he hasted to
Proconnesus, and gave command to seize all the small vessels they met,
and guard them safely in the interior of the fleet, that the enemy
might have no notice of his coming; and a great storm of rain,
accompanied with thunder and darkness, which happened at the same time,
contributed much to the concealment of his enterprise. Indeed, it was
not only undiscovered by the enemy, but the Athenians themselves were
ignorant of it, for he commanded them suddenly on board, and set sail
when they had abandoned all intention of it. As the darkness presently
passed away, the Peloponnesian fleet were seen riding out at sea in
front of the harbor of Cyzicus. Fearing, if they discovered the number
of his ships, they might endeavor to save themselves by land, he
commanded the rest of the captains to slacken, and follow him slowly,
whilst he, advancing with forty ships, showed himself to the enemy, and
provoked them to fight. The enemy, being deceived as to their numbers;
despised them, and, supposing they were to contend with those only,
made themselves ready and began the fight. But as soon as they were
engaged, they perceived the other part of the fleet coming down upon
them, at which they were so terrified that they fled immediately. Upon
that, Alcibiades, breaking through the midst of them with twenty of his
best ships, hastened to the shore, disembarked, and pursued those who
abandoned their ships and fled to land, and made a great slaughter of
them. Mindarus and Pharnabazus, coming to their succor, were utterly
defeated. Mindarus was slain upon the place, fighting valiantly;
Pharnabazus saved himself by flight. The Athenians slew great numbers
of their enemies, won much spoil, and took all their ships. They also
made themselves masters of Cyzicus, which was deserted by Pharnabazus,
and destroyed its Peloponnesian garrison, and thereby not only secured
to themselves the Hellespont, but by force drove the Lacedæmonians from
out of all the rest of the sea. They intercepted some letters written
to the ephors, which gave an account of this fatal overthrow, after
their short laconic manner. “Our hopes are at an end. Mindarus is
slain. The men starve. We know not what to do.”

The soldiers who followed Alcibiades in this last fight were so
exalted with their success, and felt that degree of pride, that,
looking on themselves as invincible, they disdained to mix with the
other soldiers, who had been often overcome. For it happened not long
before, Thrasyllus had received a defeat near Ephesus, and, upon that
occasion, the Ephesians erected their brazen trophy to the disgrace of
the Athenians. The soldiers of Alcibiades reproached those who were
under the command of Thrasyllus with this misfortune, at the same time
magnifying themselves and their own commander, and it went so far that
they would not exercise with them, nor lodge in the same quarters. But
soon after, Pharnabazus, with a great force of horse and foot, falling
upon the soldiers of Thrasyllus, as they were laying waste the
territory of Abydos, Alcibiades came to their aid, routed Pharnabazus,
and, together with Thrasyllus, pursued him till it was night; and in
this action the troops united, and returned together to the camp,
rejoicing and congratulating one another. The next day he erected a
trophy, and then proceeded to lay waste with fire and sword the whole
province which was under Pharnabazus, where none ventured to resist;
and he took divers priests and priestesses, but released them without
ransom. He prepared next to attack the Chalcedonians, who had revolted
from the Athenians, and had received a Lacedæmonian governor and
garrison. But having intelligence that they had removed their corn and
cattle out of the fields, and were conveying it all to the Bithynians,
who were their friends, he drew down his army to the frontier of the
Bithynians, and then sent a herald to charge them with this proceeding.
The Bithynians, terrified at his approach, delivered up to him the
booty, and entered into alliance with him.

Afterwards he proceeded to the siege of Chalcedon, and enclosed
it with a wall from sea to sea. Pharnabazus advanced with his forces to
raise the siege, and Hippocrates, the governor of the town, at the same
time, gathering together all the strength he had, made a sally upon the
Athenians. Alcibiades divided his army so as to engage them both at
once, and not only forced Pharnabazus to a dishonorable flight, but
defeated Hippocrates, and killed him and a number of the soldiers with
him. After this he sailed into the Hellespont, in order to raise
supplies of money, and took the city of Selymbria, in which action,
through his precipitation, he exposed himself to great danger. For some
within the town had undertaken to betray it into his hands, and, by
agreement, were to give him a signal by a lighted torch about midnight.
But one of the conspirators beginning to repent himself of the design,
the rest, for fear of being discovered, were driven to give the signal
before the appointed hour. Alcibiades, as soon as he saw the torch
lifted up in the air, though his army was not in readiness to march,
ran instantly towards the walls, taking with him about thirty men only,
and commanding the rest of the army to follow him with all possible
speed. When he came thither, he found the gate opened for him, and
entered with his thirty men, and about twenty more light-armed men, who
were come up to them. They were no sooner in the city, but he perceived
the Selymbrians all armed, coming down upon him; so that there was no
hope of escaping if he stayed to receive them; and, on the other hand,
having been always successful till that day, wherever he commanded, he
could not endure to be defeated and fly. So, requiring silence by sound
of a trumpet, he commanded one of his men to make proclamation that the
Selymbrians should not take arms against the Athenians. This cooled
such of the inhabitants as were fiercest for the fight, for they
supposed that all their enemies were within the walls, and it raised
the hopes of others who were disposed to an accommodation. Whilst they
were parleying, and propositions making on one side and the other,
Alcibiades’s whole army came up to the town. And now, conjecturing
rightly, that the Selymbrians were well inclined to peace, and fearing
lest the city might be sacked by the Thracians, who came in great
numbers to his army to serve as volunteers, out of kindness for him, he
commanded them all to retreat without the walls. And upon the
submission of the Selymbrians, he saved them from being pillaged, only
taking of them a sum of money, and, after placing an Athenian garrison
in the town, departed.

During this action, the Athenian captains who besieged
Chalcedon concluded a treaty with Pharnabazus upon these articles: that
he should give them a sum of money; that the Chalcedonians should
return to the subjection of Athens; and that the Athenians should make
no inroad into the province whereof Pharnabazus was governor; and
Pharnabazus was also to provide safe conducts for the Athenian
ambassadors to the king of Persia. Afterwards, when Alcibiades returned
thither, Pharnabazus required that he also should be sworn to the
treaty; but he refused it, unless Pharnabazus would swear at the same
time. When the treaty was sworn to on both sides Alcibiades went
against the Byzantines, who had revolted from the Athenians, and drew a
line of circumvallation about the city. But Anaxilaus and Lycurgus,
together with some others, having undertaken to betray the city to him
upon his engagement to preserve the lives and property of the
inhabitants, he caused a report to be spread abroad, as if, by reason
of some unexpected movement in Ionia, he should be obliged to raise the
siege. And, accordingly, that day he made a show to depart with his
whole fleet; but returned the same night, and went ashore with all his
men at arms, and, silently and undiscovered, marched up to the walls.
At the same time, his ships rowed into the harbor with all possible
violence, coming on with much fury, and with great shouts and outcries.
The Byzantines, thus surprised and astonished, while they all hurried
to the defense of their port and shipping, gave opportunity to those
who favored the Athenians, securely to receive Alcibiades into the
city. Yet the enterprise was not accomplished without fighting, for the
Peloponnesians, Bœotians, and Megarians not only repulsed those who
came out of the ships, and forced them on board again, but, hearing
that the Athenians were entered on the other side, drew up in order,
and went to meet them. Alcibiades, however, gained the victory after
some sharp fighting, in which he himself had the command of the right
wing, and Theramenes of the left, and took about three hundred, who
survived of the enemy, prisoners of war. After the battle, not one of
the Byzantines was slain, or driven out of the city, according to the
terms upon which the city was put into his hands, that they should
receive no prejudice in life or property. And thus Anaxilaus, being
afterwards accused at Lacedæmon for this treason, neither disowned nor
professed to be ashamed of the action; for he urged that he was not a
Lacedæmonian, but a Byzantine and saw not Sparta, but Byzantium, in
extreme danger; the city so blockaded that it was not possible to bring
in any new provisions, and the Peloponnesians and Bœotians, who were in
garrison, devouring the old stores, whilst the Byzantines, with their
wives and children, were starving; that he had not, therefore, betrayed
his country to enemies, but had delivered it from the calamities of
war, and had but followed the example of the most worthy Lacedæmonians,
who esteemed nothing to be honorable and just, but what was profitable
for their country. The Lacedæmonians, upon hearing his defense,
respected it, and discharged all that were accused.

And now Alcibiades began to desire to see his native country
again, or rather to show his fellow-citizens a person who had gained so
many victories for them. He set sail for Athens, the ships that
accompanied him being adorned with great numbers of shields and other
spoils, and towing after them many galleys taken from the enemy, and
the ensigns and ornaments of many others which he had sunk and
destroyed; all of them together amounting to two hundred. Little
credit, perhaps, can be given to what Duris the Samian, who professed
to be descended from Alcibiades, adds, that Chrysogonus, who had gained
a victory at the Pythian games, played upon his flute for the galleys,
whilst the oars kept time with the music; and that Callippides, the
tragedian, attired in his buskins, his purple robes, and other
ornaments used in the theater, gave the word to the rowers, and that
the admiral galley entered into the port with a purple sail. Neither
Theopompus, nor Ephorus, nor Xenophon, mention them. Nor, indeed, is it
credible, that one who returned from so long an exile, and such variety
of misfortunes, should come home to his countrymen in the style of
revelers breaking up from a drinking-party. On the contrary, he entered
the harbor full of fear, nor would he venture to go on shore, till,
standing on the deck, he saw Euryptolemus, his cousin, and others of
his friends and acquaintance, who were ready to receive him, and
invited him to land. As soon as he was landed, the multitude who came
out to meet him scarcely seemed so much as to see any of the other
captains, but came in throngs about Alcibiades, and saluted him with
loud acclamations, and still followed him; those who could press near
him crowned him with garlands, and they who could not come up so close
yet stayed to behold him afar off, and the old men pointed him out, and
showed him to the young ones. Nevertheless, this public joy was mixed
with some tears, and the present happiness was allayed by the
remembrance of the miseries they had endured. They made reflections,
that they could not have so unfortunately miscarried in Sicily, or been
defeated in any of their other expectations, if they had left the
management of their affairs formerly, and the command of their forces,
to Alcibiades, since, upon his undertaking the administration, when
they were in a manner driven from the sea, and could scarce defend the
suburbs of their city by land, and, at the same time, were miserably
distracted with intestine factions, he had raised them up from this low
and deplorable condition, and had not only restored them to their
ancient dominion of the sea, but had also made them everywhere
victorious over their enemies on land.

There had been a decree for recalling him from his banishment
already passed by the people, at the instance of Critias, the son of
Callæschrus, as appears by his elegies, in which he puts Alcibiades in
mind of this service:—

“From my proposal did that edict come,
Which from your tedious exile brought you home;
The public vote at first was moved by me,
And my voice put the seal to the decree.”

The people being summoned to an assembly, Alcibiades came in
amongst them, and first bewailed and lamented his own sufferings, and,
in gentle terms complaining of the usage he had received, imputed all
to his hard fortune, and some ill genius that attended him: then he
spoke at large of their prospects, and exhorted them to courage and
good hope. The people crowned him with crowns of gold, and created him
general, both at land and sea, with absolute power. They also made a
decree that his estate should be restored to him, and that the
Eumolpidæ and the holy heralds should absolve him from the curses which
they had solemnly pronounced against him by sentence of the people.
Which when all the rest obeyed, Theodorus, the high-priest, excused
himself, “For,” said he, “if he is innocent, I never cursed him.”

But notwithstanding the affairs of Alcibiades went so
prosperously, and so much to his glory, yet many were still somewhat
disturbed, and looked upon the time of his arrival to be ominous. For
on the day that he came into the port, the feast of the goddess
Minerva, which they call the Plynteria, was kept. It is the
twenty-fifth day of Thargelion, when the Praxiergidæ solemnize their
secret rites, taking all the ornaments from off her image, and keeping
the part of the temple where it stands close covered. Hence the
Athenians esteem this day most inauspicious and never undertake any
thing of importance upon it; and, therefore, they imagined that the
goddess did not receive Alcibiades graciously and propitiously, thus
hiding her face and rejecting him. Yet, notwithstanding, everything
succeeded according to his wish. When the one hundred galleys, that
were to return with him, were fitted out and ready to sail, an
honorable zeal detained him till the celebration of the mysteries was
over. For ever since Decelea had been occupied, as the enemy commanded
the roads leading from Athens to Eleusis, the procession, being
conducted by sea, had not been performed with any proper solemnity;
they were forced to omit the sacrifices and dances and other holy
ceremonies, which had usually been performed in the way, when they led
forth Iacchus. Alcibiades, therefore, judged it would be a glorious
action, which would do honor to the gods and gain him esteem with men,
if he restored the ancient splendor to these rites, escorting the
procession again by land, and protecting it with his army in the face
of the enemy. For either, if Agis stood still and did not oppose, it
would very much diminish and obscure his reputation, or, in the other
alternative, Alcibiades would engage in a holy war, in the cause of the
gods, and in defense of the most sacred and solemn ceremonies; and this
in the sight of his country, where he should have all his
fellow-citizens witnesses of his valor. As soon as he had resolved upon
this design, and had communicated it to the Eumolpidæ and heralds, he
placed sentinels on the tops of the hills, and at the break of day sent
forth his scouts. And then taking with him the priests and Initiates
and the Initiators, and encompassing them with his soldiers, he
conducted them with great order and profound silence; an august and
venerable procession, wherein all who did not envy him said, he
performed at once the office of a high-priest and of a general. The
enemy did not dare to attempt any thing against them, and thus he
brought them back in safety to the city. Upon which, as he was exalted
in his own thought, so the opinion which the people had of his conduct
was raised to that degree, that they looked upon their armies as
irresistible and invincible while he commanded them; and he so won,
indeed, upon the lower and meaner sort of people, that they
passionately desired to have him “tyrant” over them, and some of them
did not scruple to tell him so, and to advise him to put himself out of
the reach of envy, by abolishing the laws and ordinances of the people,
and suppressing the idle talkers that were ruining the state, that so
he might act and take upon him the management of affairs, without
standing in fear of being called to an account.

How far his own inclinations led him to usurp sovereign power,
is uncertain, but the most considerable persons in the city were so
much afraid of it, that they hastened him on ship-board as speedily as
they could, appointing the colleagues whom he chose, and allowing him
all other things as he desired. Thereupon he set sail with a fleet of
one hundred ships, and, arriving at Andros, he there fought with and
defeated as well the inhabitants as the Lacedæmonians who assisted
them. He did not, however, take the city; which gave the first occasion
to his enemies for all their accusations against him. Certainly, if
ever man was ruined by his own glory, it was Alcibiades. For his
continual success had produced such an idea of his courage and conduct,
that, if he failed in anything he undertook, it was imputed to his
neglect, and no one would believe it was through want of power. For
they thought nothing was too hard for him, if he went about it in good
earnest. They fancied, every day, that they should hear news of the
reduction of Chios, and of the rest of Ionia, and grew impatient that
things were not effected as fast and as rapidly as they could wish for
them. They never considered how extremely money was wanting, and that,
having to carry on war with an enemy who had supplies of all things
from a great king, he was often forced to quit his armament, in order
to procure money and provisions for the subsistence of his soldiers.
This it was which gave occasion for the last accusation which was made
against him. For Lysander, being sent from Lacedæmon with a commission
to be admiral of their fleet, and being furnished by Cyrus with a great
sum of money, gave every sailor four obols a day, whereas before they
had but three. Alcibiades could hardly allow his men three obols, and
therefore was constrained to go into Caria to furnish himself with
money. He left the care of the fleet, in his absence, to Antiochus, an
experienced seaman, but rash and inconsiderate, who had express orders
from Alcibiades not to engage, though the enemy provoked him. But he
slighted and disregarded these directions to that degree, that, having
made ready his own galley and another, he stood for Ephesus, where the
enemy lay, and, as he sailed before the heads of their galleys, used
every provocation possible, both in words and deeds. Lysander at first
manned out a few ships, and pursued him. But all the Athenian ships
coming in to his assistance, Lysander, also, brought up his whole
fleet, which gained an entire victory. He slew Antiochus himself, took
many men and ships, and erected a trophy.

As soon as Alcibiades heard this news, he returned to Samos,
and loosing from thence with his whole fleet, came and offered battle
to Lysander. But Lysander, content with the victory he had gained,
would not stir. Amongst others in the army who hated Alcibiades,
Thrasybulus, the son of Thrason, was his particular enemy, and went
purposely to Athens to accuse him, and to exasperate his enemies in the
city against him. Addressing the people, he represented that Alcibiades
had ruined their affairs and lost their ships by mere self-conceited
neglect of his duties, committing the government of the army, in his
absence, to men who gained his favor by drinking and scurrilous
talking, whilst he wandered up and down at pleasure to raise money,
giving himself up to every sort of luxury and excess amongst the
courtesans of Abydos and Ionia, at a time when the enemy’s navy were on
the watch close at hand. It was also objected to him, that he had
fortified a castle near Bisanthe in Thrace, for a safe retreat for
himself, as one that either could not, or would not, live in his own
country. The Athenians gave credit to these informations, and showed
the resentment and displeasure which they had conceived against him, by
choosing other generals.

As soon as Alcibiades heard of this, he immediately forsook the
army, afraid of what might follow; and, collecting a body of mercenary
soldiers, made war upon his own account against those Thracians who
called themselves free, and acknowledged no king. By this means he
amassed to himself a considerable treasure, and, at the same time,
secured the bordering Greeks from the incursions of the barbarians.

Tydeus, Menander, and Adimantus, the new-made generals, were at
that time posted at Ægospotami, with all the ships which the Athenians
had left. From whence they were used to go out to sea every morning,
and offer battle to Lysander, who lay near Lampsacus; and when they had
done so, returning back again, lay, all the rest of the day, carelessly
and without order, in contempt of the enemy. Alcibiades, who was not
far off, did not think so slightly of their danger, nor neglect to let
them know it, but, mounting his horse, came to the generals, and
represented to them that they had chosen a very inconvenient station,
where there was no safe harbor, and where they were distant from any
town; so that they were constrained to send for their necessary
provisions as far as Sestos. He also pointed out to them their
carelessness in suffering the soldiers, when they went ashore, to
disperse and wander up and down at their pleasure, while the enemy’s
fleet, under the command of one general, and strictly obedient to
discipline, lay so very near them. He advised them to remove the fleet
to Sestos. But the admirals not only disregarded what he said, but
Tydeus, with insulting expressions; commanded him to be gone, saying,
that now not he, but others, had the command of the forces. Alcibiades,
suspecting something of treachery in them, departed, and told his
friends, who accompanied him out of the camp, that if the generals had
not used him with such insupportable contempt, he would within a few
days have forced the Lacedæmonians, however unwilling, either to have
fought the Athenians at sea, or to have deserted their ships. Some
looked upon this as a piece of ostentation only; others said, the thing
was probable, for that he might have brought down by land great numbers
of the Thracian cavalry and archers, to assault and disorder them in
their camp. The event however, soon made it evident how rightly he had
judged of the errors which the Athenians committed. For Lysander fell
upon them on a sudden, when they least suspected it, with such fury
that Conon alone, with eight galleys, escaped him; all the rest, which
were about two hundred, he took and carried away, together with three
thousand prisoners, whom he put to death. And within a short time
after, he took Athens itself, burnt all the ships which he found there,
and demolished their long walls.

After this, Alcibiades, standing in dread of the Lacedæmonians,
who were now masters both at sea and land, retired into Bithynia. He
sent thither great treasure before him, took much with him, but left
much more in the castle where he had before resided. But he lost great
part of his wealth in Bithynia, being robbed by some Thracians who
lived in those parts, and thereupon determined to go to the court of
Artaxerxes, not doubting but that the king, if he would make trial of
his abilities, would find him not inferior to Themistocles, besides
that he was recommended by a more honorable cause. For he went, not as
Themistocles did, to offer his service against his fellow-citizens, but
against their enemies, and to implore the king’s aid for the defense of
his country. He concluded that Pharnabazus would most readily procure
him a safe conduct, and therefore went into Phrygia to him, and
continued to dwell there some time, paying him great respect, and being
honorably treated by him. The Athenians, in the meantime, were
miserably afflicted at their loss of empire, but when they were
deprived of liberty also, and Lysander set up thirty despotic rulers in
the city, in their ruin now they began to turn to those thoughts which,
while safety was yet possible, they would not entertain; they
acknowledged and bewailed their former errors and follies, and judged
this second ill-usage of Alcibiades to be of all the most inexcusable.
For he was rejected, without any fault committed by himself; and only
because they were incensed against his subordinate for having
shamefully lost a few ships, they much more shamefully deprived the
commonwealth of its most valiant and accomplished general. Yet in this
sad state of affairs, they had still some faint hopes left them, nor
would they utterly despair of the Athenian commonwealth, while
Alcibiades was safe. For they persuaded themselves that if before, when
he was an exile, he could not content himself to live idly and at ease,
much less now, if he could find any favorable opportunity, would he
endure the insolence of the Lacedæmonians, and the outrages of the
Thirty. Nor was it an absurd thing in the people to entertain such
imaginations, when the Thirty themselves were so very solicitous to be
informed and to get intelligence of all his actions and designs. In
fine, Critias represented to Lysander that the Lacedæmonians could
never securely enjoy the dominion of Greece, till the Athenian
democracy was absolutely destroyed; and though now the people of Athens
seemed quietly and patiently to submit to so small a number of
governors, yet so long as Alcibiades lived, the knowledge of this fact
would never suffer them to acquiesce in their present circumstances.

Yet Lysander would not be prevailed upon by these
representations, till at last he received secret orders from the
magistrates of Lacedæmon, expressly requiring him to get Alcibiades
dispatched: whether it was that they feared his energy and boldness in
enterprising what was hazardous, or that it was done to gratify king
Agis. Upon receipt of this order, Lysander sent away a messenger to
Pharnabazus, desiring him to put it in execution. Pharnabazus committed
the affair to Magæus, his brother, and to his uncle Susamithres.
Alcibiades resided at that time in a small village in Phrygia, together
with Timandra, a mistress of his. As he slept, he had this dream: he
thought himself attired in his mistress’s habit, and that she, holding
him in her arms, dressed his head and painted his face as if he had
been a woman; others say, he dreamed that he saw Magæus cut off his
head and burn his body; at any rate, it was but a little while before
his death that he had these visions. Those who were sent to assassinate
him had not courage enough to enter the house, but surrounded it first,
and set it on fire. Alcibiades, as soon as he perceived it, getting
together great quantities of clothes and furniture, threw them upon the
fire to choke it, and, having wrapped his cloak about his left arm, and
holding his naked sword in his right, he cast himself into the middle
of the fire, and escaped securely through it, before his clothes were
burnt. The barbarians, as soon as they saw him, retreated, and none of
them durst stay to expect him, or to engage with him, but, standing at
a distance, they slew him with their darts and arrows. When he was
dead, the barbarians departed, and Timandra took up his dead body, and,
covering and wrapping it up in her own robes, she buried it as decently
and as honorably as her circumstances would allow. It is said, that the
famous Lais, who was called the Corinthian, though she was a native of
Hyccara, a small town in Sicily, from whence she was brought a captive,
was the daughter of this Timandra. There are some who agree with this
account of Alcibiades’s death in all points, except that they impute
the cause of it neither to Pharnabazus, nor Lysander, nor the
Lacedæmonians: but, they say, he was keeping with him a young lady of a
noble house, whom he had debauched, and that her brothers, not being
able to endure the indignity, set fire by night to the house where he
was living, and, as he endeavored to save himself from the flames, slew
him with their darts, in the manner just related.